A 73-year-old man has been found guilty of raping a woman with learning difficulties at his home in Argyll.

Stewart Winton attacked the victim, who is in her 40s, at his home in Oban while his wife was out on an occasion between April and June 2013.

He was arrested after the woman reported the incident to her support worker but Winton continued to claim she had consented to have sex.

Sentence on Winton was deferred and he was granted bail.

The High Court in Glasgow heard that former soldier Winton raped the woman while his wife of 43 years, who uses a wheelchair, was not at home.

'Significant impairment'

Advocate depute Kath Harper, prosecuting, told the trial: "This woman's care workers say that she can follow instructions with prompting, but learning new tasks is difficult unless the information is broken down and she has support. On speaking to her, her learning disability would be apparent.

"Her IQ is in the bottom 4% of the population. She is found to have significant impairment in social function which covers awareness of dangers and taking care of herself."

Winton claimed that he had no idea of the woman's disabilities and believed she had consented to sex with him.

The court heard that the woman was eager to please and get along with people.

Ms Harper said: "Despite the fact she doesn't like confrontation, she could not have made it clearer she did not want to have sexual contact with Stewart Winton.

"She was frightened and told him, no, no Stewart, stop it Stewart and pushed him away.

"And given her eagerness to please this must be a clear sign that she really didn't like what was happening."

'Forced it'

When questioned by police Winton told them: "Eh, it did happen to be honest with you. It was just one of those stupid things I did.

"My wife wasn't in at the time and she didn't seem to bother. I probably forced it a little bit."

The jury convicted him of rape after hearing that at the start of the police interview Winton had lied and said: "There was no actual intercourse or nothing."

Winton served in Cyprus and Northern Ireland with the Army, and later worked as a chef until he retired.

Judge Lady Scott placed him on the sex offenders register and granted him bail ahead of sentence next month.

The judge said she was doing this on account of his age and the fact he is the main carer for his wife.

But Lady Scott told Winton: "You have been convicted of a very serious offence which will almost inevitably attract a period of imprisonment."